A Career Development (K) Award Can Shape a Young Researcher's Career

Benefits abound for Department of Medicine researchers who learn how to submit a Career Development (K) proposal.  While not every proposal gets funded, there is still plenty of value in learning about the application process.  And to simplify the onerous administrative requirements, the Research Management Group (RMG) offers training sessions (see sidebar).  

Receiving a K award has been a career-shaping experience for numerous department fellows.

Take Kevin Alexander, MD, for instance.  Alexander, an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine, is using a KL2 award to support his research to understand the metabolic signature of transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis to identify novel treatment options.

“The KL2 has been the foundation for me to transition from a trainee to an independent investigator. It helps me have the protected time to pursue my research as well as grow my research team. Coupled with that, the KL2 has a lot of coursework and seminars that have helped me learn how to write grants and papers as well as lab management strategies,” he says.

Alexander encourages young researchers to attend the RMG training sessions prior to applying for their first NIH grant.

“The nuances of writing the administrative sections are going to be new, and it's important to become familiar with them.  Also, it will help down the road because you can use these skills when you apply for R-level and other NIH grants.”

Margie Corbett, research administration director of the RMG, agrees. 

“It is a complicated process,” she says.  “You’re not only dealing with the technical sections of the proposal, but you're also having to address administrative details pertaining to the project and to Stanford.  Research administration has its own vocabulary, and applicants are required to use an NIH portal for the entire proposal submission. First time applicants are always surprised by the complexity of the proposal development process.  The class is designed to demystify the process and get applicants off on the right foot.”

Ami S. Bhatt, MD, associate professor of hematology and genetics, recalls the first time she applied for a big NIH grant and how intimidating it was.

“There are a lot of features of the proposal beyond just the research component. And it's incredibly helpful to have guidance from experts on how to complete the administrative requirements for a K award proposal.  It’s also extremely beneficial to have guidance and input on many of the career development aspects of the proposal, both in terms of how to write them and also how to access some of the great career development opportunities that we have here at Stanford,” she points out.

There are currently three K award researchers on faculty in the Division of Nephrology.  All are women; all are in diverse fields.  Xingxing Cheng, MD, is studying transplant health services research; Lauren Higdon, PhD, is focusing on translational immunology; and Calyani Ganesan, MD, is examining kidney stone and bone epidemiology. 

Ganesan, an instructor of medicine (nephrology), is using her K award to improve the screening and management of bone disease in patients with urinary stone disease.

“The K award provides 75 percent protected time for research.  That gives me time to learn the skills I need to develop a research program.  It will probably be one of the few times in my life when I can really have an opportunity to learn the skills for research and become the person that I hope to be someday.  The award has also opened a lot of doors for me to be able to participate in clinical care research and to present my work at other academic institutions,” she says.

Ganesan attended the RMG training sessions before applying for her K award.

“Applying for an NIH grant through the portal requires knowledge that most individuals just don’t have, like the DUNS ID of the school you’re affiliated with, for example.  Without those sessions I would have been quite lost in terms of completing the various pages and forms,” she notes.

Sydney Lu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of hematology, is about to start year three of his five-year K award.  The award supports his study of the RBM39 gene and its role in normal and abnormal hematopoiesis, particularly in the context of treatment for myeloid leukemias.

“The K award is broadly seen these days as an important milestone towards scientific independence.  That applies both to clinicians who are going to do clinical research as well as to scientists who plan to do lab-based research,” he says.

Lu observes that for most of these career development awards, the scientific research proposal itself is only one part of the application. In addition to the research question, career development awards are also evaluated on the research environment, institutional resources and commitment, the investigator’s scientific advisory committee, mentors or mentorship team, as well as professional development plans of the applicant, among other factors.

While Lu received his award before he joined the Stanford faculty, his impression is that “these many other pieces of the application besides the scientific proposal itself are incredibly important, and represent areas where the RMG classes would be extremely useful for applicants,” he says.

Bhatt points out how K awards help support fellows in their transition to becoming faculty.

So that we can have excellence in every single division within the department, it is critical for our early career researchers to take advantage of this opportunity to incubate their best ideas and learn how to become independent researchers.

“They provide them with protected research time, support, and a real vote of confidence that enables them to bridge the gap from being a junior researcher within another group to becoming an independent researcher.”

“Typically, these are career development awards for junior faculty, preferably received during the first five years of one’s faculty career,” adds Glenn Chertow, MD, the Norman S. Coplon/Satellite Healthcare Professor of Medicine.

“Unfortunately, we have too few recipients in the Department of Medicine across the board,” he points out.  “My hope is that we can double or triple the number over the next several years.”

Bhatt concurs.

“One of the things that makes Stanford such an exceptional place to work and do research is that we really try to push the forefront in terms of innovations in medicine and medical research. This is true in all the different divisions of the Department of Medicine. And the best way for Stanford to pursue the next generation of innovations is to support our newer researchers in taking the time to do deep and meaningful projects that allow them to contribute to research and learn how to become independent researchers.  So that we can have excellence in every single division within the department, it is critical for our early career researchers to take advantage of this opportunity to incubate their best ideas and learn how to become independent researchers,” she says.